The Second Potter Son
by SnakeySloth
Summary: "But Slytherin is the evil house. My brother James said so." He told the hat quietly. "Ha! No, boy. Slytherin is a house of true greatness. A house of ambition, dedication and true loyalty. Where you'll find your real friends. Where I believe you in particular, could thrive." From the moment of his sorting, Albus knows he's in for an interesting year.
1. Chapter 1

_****N.B: This has been revised slightly since I first published it. Not overly much, but enough.**_

 _ **Also - this story is just something I created for a friend. Please don't be too harsh.**_

 **CHAPTER 1:**

Exhaling heavily as he stepped on to the Hogwarts Express, and replaying his father's words in his head, Albus Potter assured himself that he was not going to be outcast from the Potter family, even if he did get sorted into Slytherin house- not that he thought he would be sorted there, really. With that thought easing his mind, he turned to beckon his cousin, Rose, and the two began the task of searching for somewhere to sit.

It soon became apparent that they were unable and unlikely to find an empty cabin, so Albus and Rose decided to settle into one they saw with the least amount of people. Carrying on throughout the train passageway for a time, heaving their trunks and carriers behind them, they finally came upon a cabin with only two occupants: a grey-eyed, pale, blonde boy and a skinny, brown-haired girl with freckles across her nose. Both of them appeared to be first years, too.

Sliding the door open, Rose stuck her head in and asked "Mind if we join you? Everywhere else is full."

It was the boy who responded with a pleasant nod.

"Sure." He agreed easily.

Albus sighed in relief. Carrying his trunk was starting to get tiring, and if they had said no, Albus didn't really want to go looking for another cabin while pulling it and his ferret carrier along.

"Cheers!" Rose said brightly, walking into the cabin and setting her trunk and owl cage at her feet.

"I'm Rose Weasley, and this is my cousin, Albus Potter." Rose stated as Albus followed her in, setting his own things down.

"Oh … Nice to meet you both." The boy said, smiling nervously.

"This is Gisele …" He began, gesturing to the girl and looking to her to say her surname.

"Fawley- Gisele Fawley. Pleasure." She supplied affably, offering a nod of her head.

"And, er, I'm Scorpius …" He said slowly. "Um, Malfoy. I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

Rose shot a wide-eyed glance at Albus.

"Oh! You're a Malfoy? Er. Okay. Right. Uh, we actually, I just remembered, we can't sit in here. Because … because … just because." She said, faltering for an excuse as she picked up her trunk and owl cage again.

Albus noticed Scorpius cringe and look away, his face turning slightly pink in embarrassment. Gisele's face took on a look of confusion as she looked between Scorpius and Rose.

"I'm sorry … I don't understand. Why can't you sit here?" Gisele asked, hesitantly.

"Well, because, well …" Rose fumbled around for an excuse, flushing heavily as she did so.

"Oh, fine." Rose huffed out.

"Because he's a Malfoy, and the Malfoy's aren't a good sort. I don't want to be associating with one of them."

At that, Scorpius' face flushed an even darker pink.

"Are you serious?" Gisele asked Rose, narrowing her eyes, clearly taken aback.

The look Rose offered Gisele was answer enough.

"Get out." Gisele said coldly.

Rose stared at Gisele and looked like she was gearing up to have a go, but Albus, sufficiently uncomfortable now, tugged at Rose's arm and manoeuvred her out of the cabin before addressing Scorpius and Gisele himself.

"Er … we'll go find somewhere else to sit. I'm, uh, I'm really sorry." Albus said awkwardly to them.

Offering a small smile that was more of a grimace to both Scorpius and Gisele, Albus gathered his trunk and carrier into his hands and walked away with Rose.

It was another ten minutes before they found a cabin at the far end of the train to settle in to. In it sat an older boy, already dressed in his school robes and practising magic. He told them rather huffily that they could share the cabin, but their pets needed to stay in their cages and Albus and Rose needed to stay quiet, so he could concentrate. Five minutes later, Albus and Rose had settled completely into the cabin, putting their trunks and carriers into the overhead storage.

Staring out the window, Albus frowned as he thought of Scorpius' face when Rose had begun looking for an excuse to leave after hearing his family name. Scorpius had seemed pleasant enough, then he'd just sort of shrunk into himself. It was like he fully accepted that he should be treated poorly, just because he was a Malfoy.

Albus thought that Rose had been out of line. Both Scorpius and Gisele had seemed nice enough.

Before he could help himself, Albus was opening his mouth to quietly admonish Rose for her attitude towards Scorpius.

"What you said to Scorpius wasn't fair. He seemed nice, and you were rude."

Rose opened her mouth to argue, but the third-year boy shot a scathing look in their direction and hissed "Quiet!" at them.

Shooting a frustrated look in his direction, Rose proceeded to sulk for the remainder of the journey to Hogwarts. She knew that to some degree, she was in the wrong- which was why she was so annoyed with Albus for saying something to her.

The train journey was mostly silent, with both Rose and Albus retrieving books from their trunks to entertain themselves. Rose was reading some muggle book about a fake witch in a wardrobe with lions- something that Aunt Hermione had given her as a going away gift.

Albus sat reading his copy of _Magical Drafts and Potions_.

A couple of hours had passed when the older student suggested that the pair of them should change into their robes, as they would be arriving soon. Both Albus and Rose gathered their robes from their trunks and headed off to change into them, barely three words spoken between each other.

Upon their return to their train carriage, the pair of them resumed reading their chosen books, sitting in silence for the remainder of the journey.

By the time the Hogwarts Express pulled up at Hogsmeade station, Albus had memorised the twelve uses for dragon's blood and what ingredients were used to brew a forgetfulness potion. He was feeling quite confident that, at the very least, Potions was a class in which he would do well this year.

He and Rose quickly grabbed their things and headed out on to the platform.

On the platform, a booming voice that Albus immediately recognised was calling "Firs' years! Over 'ere. Firs' years, over 'ere!"

Rose, who was still miffed with Albus, stormed off towards the deep voice, leaving him to himself. Albus didn't mind this, as he thought Rose was in the wrong. He thought himself a very good judge of character, and he had thought both Scorpius and Gisele seemed like good people. They were definitely the kind of people he would have wanted to try to be friends with. Shaking his head at his cousin's behaviour, Albus gripped his belongings and headed towards the voice of his father's good friend: the half-giant, Hagrid.

"Leave yer belongins' over ere'. We'll be gettin' to the castle another way. Leave em all 'ere. Right you lot, follow me!"

Settling his trunk and his carrier in the designated spot, along with about sixty-five other people, Albus followed Hagrid towards a bevvy of boats. Looking wide-eyed at the enormous lake that the boats floated in, Albus thanked Merlin that it was a calm night. This was not a trip he'd want to make in rough waters.

"Alrigh' you lot. Lots of five and into a boat. Come on now!"

Albus very quickly found himself in a boat with a trio of extremely chatty girls and a grinning, brown-skinned boy.

"Righ', everybody in? Off we go then." Hagrid called out.

The boats seemed to begin moving of their own accord all at once towards the castle. Staring in wonder, it finally sunk in for Albus that he was here!

After what felt like an eternity in waiting, Albus was finally at Hogwarts.

"Innit better than you coulda imagined?" The other boy asked Albus.

Smiling at him, Albus nodded his assent.

"I'm Dori. Short for Theodore, but, well, that's too long, innit?" The other boy said, holding out his hand to shake Albus'.

"Albus. Just call me Al." Albus responded as he shook Dori's outstretched hand.

Dori nodded at Albus, and continued the conversation.

"You know what house you wanna be in?" He asked.

Shrugging his shoulders at Dori, Albus responded, "All my family are in Gryffindor. I guess I'll probably go there too. What about you?"

"My dad was a Slytherin. Wants me to be one too. But I reckon I wouldn't mind Hufflepuff. Be hilarious to give him that news. I can just imagine him telling my grandparents. They'd disown me." Dori said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

Laughing along with Dori, and deciding that he rather liked him, Albus chatted with him more on the journey across the lake.

When the boats finally reached the muddy bank of the school, Albus, Dori, and the three girls who had introduced themselves as Emilia and Harriet Strauss and Lola Hunter clambered out of the boat and joined the forming group of first-year students.

"Alrigh', follow me!" Came Hagrid's booming voice.

The group quickly made their way towards the Hogwarts entranceway, where they were greeted by another of Albus' parents' friends- Neville Longbottom.

"Thank you, Hagrid." Neville said kindly. "I'll take them from here."

Turning to regard the first years, Neville called out for them to follow him to the Great Hall and began leading the first years through the castle.

Walking side by side with Dori, Albus followed with the group of first years through corridors and upstairs to the closed entrance of the Great Hall. He noticed Scorpius and Gisele walking slightly ahead of them, chatting to each other. He hadn't noticed it on the train, but Gisele was really tall. She had a least half a foot on Scorpius, who wasn't exactly short.

Quieting the somewhat noisy group to address them all, Neville introduced himself as Professor Longbottom and explained what was going to happen.

"There's a hat that you will place upon your head to be sorted into a Hogwarts house. The hat will see your mind, and might even talk to you. Now, depending on the particular student, the hat could take three seconds or three minutes. While you're here at Hogwarts, your houses will be like your family. Your accomplishments will be rewarded with house points, and your indiscretions will result in the loss of house points. Whichever house has the most points at the end of the year, wins the house cup."

"Once you've all been sorted, the feast will begin. Any questions?"

No one seemed to have any questions. They all simply stood there, wide-eyed, in nervous anticipation.

"Great, well, follow me."

Turning heel, Neville lead the group into the Great Hall, towards a small stool that sat unobtrusively in the middle of a podium. Upon it sat the hat Neville had told them about. It didn't quite meet the expectation Albus had of it. He had pictured a pointy black wizards hat. Maybe with a couple of gold stars. This hat was disgusting and looked tired. Literally.

The hall was silent, and everyone stared at the hat, waiting for something. Suddenly, the brim of the hat quivered open, and it burst into song.

 _The founders four of Hogwarts school  
_ _Charmed me so that when they  
_ _Had all passed on, I still could rule  
_ _In what house each student would stay._

 _I'll cast you into Gryffindor,  
_ _If your bravery stands out.  
_ _If you're bold and daring to the core,  
_ _It's where you belong, no doubt._

 _Or I'll set you off for Hufflepuff  
_ _If it's kindness that I see,  
_ _If your loyalty and hard work ethic  
_ _Are what's most apparent to me._

 _I'll rule that you're a Ravenclaw,  
_ _Should I find eagerness to learn.  
_ _If you've a clever or creative mind  
_ _Then a place there you have earned._

 _Or I'll send you into Slytherin,  
Should I see you have great ambition,  
_ _If your mind is cunning, sly or quick,  
_ _To green, you'll have admission._

 _But know this now, and be aware  
_ _That my choice of house for you,  
_ _Is a choice I make in consciousness  
_ _Of the choices that you do._

 _No house is better than the rest,  
_ _Despite their reputations.  
_ _The founders intended harmony,  
_ _Not hate or separation._

 _I do my job, I do it well  
_ _For I've never yet been wrong.  
_ _No student I have ever placed  
_ _Was where they did not belong._

 _So pick me up, put me on,  
_ _It's time for me to dig in,  
_ _For I'm the Sorting Hat of Hogwarts,  
_ _And I am ready to begin._

The hat finished its song with a bow of its tip, and applause rang out across the hall. With that, the sorting began.

"When I call your name, step forward on to the stool and place the hat on your head." Neville said.

" _Allory, Delilah_." was the first to be called.

A nervous, mousy looking girl with big eyes stepped towards the stool and tripped over her feet. Scrambling embarrassedly upright, Delilah Allory sat down and pulled the hat on her head. It sat for a moment before announcing: _"Ravenclaw!"_

A hearty applause started from the Ravenclaw table and died down a couple of moments after she seated herself with the rest of her new house.

That was the pattern that continued for the rest of the roll and Albus paid close attention, waiting to see which house three students in particular, were placed in to.

He watched as student after student was placed into their house- each taking no longer than a minute- and eventually the first of three particular people he'd been waiting to see sorted, was called.

" _Fawley, Gisele."_

She walked towards the stool, looking relatively calm, except her ear kept twitching, which gave her nervousness away.

She picked up the hat and sat on the stool. The Sorting Hat had barely touched Gisele's head before calling _"Slytherin!"_.

Coolly, she placed the hat back upon the stool and headed for the Slytherin table.

"Wow, when Professor Longbottom said three seconds or three minutes, I thought he was just exaggerating. But she literally took three seconds." Dori remarked after Gisele's sorting, clearly impressed.

The roll carried on, and progressed quite quickly, although no one was sorted quite as fast as Gisele had been. The hat didn't seem to be having much trouble placing any of the students though, Albus thought, as _Jordan, Gideon_ was sorted into Gryffindor.

A couple of names later, Neville called for _"Malfoy, Scorpius."_

A pronounced hush fell over the great hall as he made his way to the stool, everyone straining to hear what house the son of the only Death-eater to avoid Azkaban, after the war, would be placed into.

Picking up the hat and pulling it over his eyes, Scorpius Malfoy sat upon the stall far longer than any other first-year thus far.

Three minutes passed, and the hat gave no indication of announcing a house.

"Christ, what's it been? Like ten minutes?" Dori muttered under his breath to Albus.

"Try three." Albus murmured back, dryly.

Another minute later, the brim of the hat finally opened to call out _"Slytherin!"_

Clapping began from the Slytherin table, and Scorpius, after removing the hat, hurried over to sit next to Gisele, smiling in relief all the while.

A couple of students later, " _Nott, Theodore",_ was called.

"Well, this is me." Dori said to Albus before making his way towards the stool.

Pulling the hat onto his head, there was a slight deliberation before " _Slytherin"_ rang out across the hall.

Shooting a quick, dry grin towards Albus, Dori turned and jogged to sit with the other Slytherin first years.

Five minutes later, Neville finally called _"Potter, Albus."_.

It was his turn to be sorted, and an ugly dread settled into his stomach as he approached the stool, picked the hat up and sat down. Albus hesitated before pulling the hat over his head.

Albus startled as a voice immediately piped up in his mind.

"Well, well, I haven't had this happen with one of your lot before." It said.

"What?" Albus asked.

"I've had many of your cousins, and even your brother sit here on this stool. Not one of them gave me trouble at all. I knew exactly where they were going. But you… hmmm."

Albus began to worry at that.

"I… but me what? I'm not like the rest of my family? Am I not a Gryffindor?" He asked the hat, worriedly.

"You're brave, plenty of courage like your family. You could be a Gryffindor. But I think you'd do better elsewhere… You're a quiet boy. A clever one too. And you have plans for yourself. You want to be a healer, do you, boy?" The hat asked him knowingly.

"Well, no. Not exactly. I want to create a potion that helps people like my Uncle George. That's all." Albus replied.

"Hmm, I see. You intend to help others and are prepared to put in the work to see it happen. You are also fair and just- the markings of a proud Hufflepuff. But that mind. Steady, sure, determined, clever. A mix of Slytherin and Ravenclaw. You'd do well in any of the four houses. But where to put you?"

The hat continued to muse in his head as Albus stayed quiet.

"Well, I, just … not Slytherin?" Albus said, ending on a question.

"I can't be the first Weasley-Potter to be in Slytherin." He explained quickly to the hat.

"Are you sure? That thirst you have to reach your goals, to help the people closest to you. That's all Slytherin you know."

Albus considered for a moment, but then James' words came to his mind.

"But Slytherin is the evil house. My brother James said so." He told the hat quietly.

"Ha! No, boy. Slytherin is a house of true greatness. A house of ambition, dedication and true loyalty. Where you'll find your real friends. Where I believe you in particular, could thrive."

The hat seemed to be convincing itself and Albus had to admit, he really quite liked Dori. And Scorpius and Gisele had seemed like a good sort in the short time he'd known them. All three of them were in Slytherin house. Also, Albus himself was named for a Slytherin, so the house couldn't be all bad.

Softly, Albus asked the hat, "Do you really think I might belong in Slytherin?"

"I told you before, you would do well in any of the four houses. But in Slytherin, you would do more than well; you would do great. But I'll give you what I allowed your father- a choice. Do you truly not wish Slytherin to be an option?"

This was it, Albus thought. Here was his out. He could just tell the hat right now, that he absolutely did not want to be in Slytherin… except that would be a lie. James didn't want Albus to be a Slytherin- despite his teasing. Uncle Ron didn't want Albus to be a Slytherin- he hated the lot of them. But Albus, Albus secretly didn't mind.

Finally, Albus told the hat, "Ok, just put me where I belong. Wherever I belong."

"Very good, boy. Always know that I am never wrong. It'lll have to be …

 **SLYTHERIN**!"

Although a few people began clapping, the majority of the students, and most of the teachers, sat in shock. Albus knew, as he started walking towards the Slytherin table, that people would talk about him. They would talk about how he, the son of Harry Potter, the son of The Chosen One, was a Slytherin.

Albus could hear the whispers start as he slunk into the space Dori had made for him.

"Ignore them, mate." Dori said, smirking.

"No one here knows squat except that hat. He told me so."

Releasing a quick laugh at Dori's cheeky tone, Albus made Dori a quick bet.

"Five sickles we hear at least one person bring up how disappointed my dad must be in me." He said quietly.

"You're on." Dori said, amusement heavy in his tone.

The whispering didn't cease for a while, and Albus was able to make out most it.

" _But, the hat must be wrong! Surely, it's wrong!"_

" _Harry Potter's son is a Slytherin! Can you believe it!?"_

" _Merlin's beard! A Potter!? In Slytherin!?"_

" _Merlin, imagine having to be the one to tell Harry Potter that his son is a Slytherin!"_

The whispering didn't bother Albus, but it did stunt the sorting a little bit. The whispers only came to a halt when the Headmistress stood to hush them.

"If we could get back to the sorting." She insisted sternly.

Clearing his throat to continue on, Neville started calling up the remaining students to be sorted.

Casting a look at Albus, Dori whispered, "You owe me five sickles."

Chuckling quietly to himself, and nodding his head okay- because no one had actually said Harry Potter would be disappointed in his son-, Albus began to look around the Great Hall. Now that he had actually been sorted, he was better able to take everything in.

The walls were decorated with four giant banners, each one depicting a house crest. Giant floating candles danced above his head, and the ceiling reflected a calm, indigo sky.

Tearing his eyes towards where the food would be, Albus was impressed by the huge gold platters that sat empty along the table, accompanied by matching golden goblets and gleaming plates.

James had told Albus all about the Hogwarts feasts, and now that he was no longer nervous about being sorted, Albus was rather hungry.

Looking towards the podium, Albus saw that there were only seven students left to be sorted.

" _Strauss, Emilia." "Hufflepuff!"_

" _Strauss, Harriet." "Hufflepuff!"_

" _Thomas, Shaun." "Gryffindor!_

" _Weasley, Rose." "Gryffindor!"_

" _Wood, Scott." "Gryffindor!"_

" _Yeilich, Piper." "Slytherin!"_

" _Zabini, Etienne." "Slytherin!"_

Ten minutes later, the last first year had been sorted, and Professor McGonagall was rising to address the school.

"To all new students, congratulations on your sortings. I suggest you take this time to begin learning about your peers, for they will become like your new family.

A warning to all first years, and a reminder to returning students, that the forest grounds are strictly out of bounds, and those of you who disobey school rules, will lose house points.

And now, you may now begin eating."

She clapped her hands and the golden platters that lined the table immediately filled with food.

Roast pork, lamb and chicken, with roasted vegetables and gravy. Thick, creamy potatoes and buttery stuffing sitting next to huge bowls of different types of salads. Fresh loaves of bread, and ladles of creamy pumpkin soup.

"Well damn. This looks great!" Dori exclaimed excitedly.

He was right. The food looked divine, and Albus fully intended on enjoying it. Right after he addressed something first.

Looking up at and holding eye contact with Scorpius Malfoy, who sat next to Gisele and, coincidentally, across from Albus, Albus opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry about the train. Honestly, I know better than anyone what it's like to carry your father's reputation, and Rose does, too. I said something to her. About what she said to you. And, er, I was hoping now that we're in the same house, we could be friends?"

Scorpius had probably assumed that Albus thought of him the same way Rose did and would ignore him after the train incident. He thought wrong.

Surprise crossed Scorpius' face, but he nodded at Albus and offered him a small smile.

"Yeah. We can. Thank you." Scorpius said earnestly.

"Brilliant!" Albus exclaimed in relief.

"Well, uh, I'm Albus- Al. And this is Dori." Albus said, indicating his friend next to him.

"Pleasured to meet ya." Dori threw out, with a smirk.

"I'm Scorpius, and this is Gisele." Scorpius replied, with Gisele adding a pleasant "Call me Elly.", at his introduction of her.

Scorpius had introduced himself and Gisele exactly as he had on the train, except this time, his introduction wasn't quickly met with hostility.

Looking between Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, a pleasant feeling settled into Albus' stomach. He thought to himself, that perhaps the hat was right.

This was where he'd make his true friends.


	2. Chapter 2

_****N.B -**_ _**I t**_ ** _ook_ _a fair amount of creative license with the Slytherin common room. Please don't hate. Also, this chapter has had some slight revisions._**

 **CHAPTER 2:**

During dinner, the ghosts of Hogwarts made their appearances, with one particularly terrifying ghost appearing suddenly before Scorpius, who emitted the slightest shriek.

The Ghost- who Albus eventually learned from a third-year student was the ghost of Slytherin house: The Bloody Baron,- made no move to engage with any of the students, he simply floated along the table, dragging his chains as he did so.

Some time throughout the feast, dinner had given way to desert, and Albus, who had already been full to bursting, couldn't help but continue to stuff his face.

Albus chatted rather happily with Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, all throughout the feast. The conversation was easy, and he learnt a fair bit about all three of them and shared a bit about himself.

He had spoken briefly to a few of the other first years too, learning their names and where they were from.

At the end of the feast, McGonagall stood up to address the school once more.

"All students from the second year, up, may begin making your way back to your common rooms. Seventh-year prefects, please remain to collect the first years' class schedules, from your heads of house. Then you may begin leading your new housemates back to your common rooms." She instructed.

Slowly, all students except the first years and the seventh year prefects exited the Great Hall, and eventually, a slim, brown-haired girl and a behemoth of a boy approached the Slytherin first years.

"Hello, and welcome to Slytherin house!" The girl said enthusiastically.

"My name is Henrietta."

"And I'm Lev." Said the behemoth standing next to her.

"We're going to show you lot to the common room. I'll lead from the front, and Lev will round the back, to make sure none of you gets stuck on the moving stairs or the trick steps. Once we're in the common room, Lev will be handing out all of your class schedules for the year." She said quickly, Lev standing silently next to her.

"Right! Follow me then."

Alongside Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, Albus allowed himself to be lead out of the Great Hall by Henrietta.

As they made their way through the halls of Hogwarts to their new common room, Albus found himself thinking that he was going to have a lot of trouble remembering how to get anywhere within the castle. There seemed to be so many turns and stairs and corridors, that even the landmarks he tried picking out for himself didn't seem to register properly in his mind before he'd forget them.

It didn't help at all that Henrietta set such a brisk pace, calling for them all to "Hurry now!"

"Merlin, I'm never going to remember this all." Scorpius muttered to himself, quietly.

"Me either, mate." Albus uttered back, earning an easy look from Scorpius.

Eventually, they reached a set of spiralling stairs that seemed particularly uninviting. The stairs were rather narrow with the candles lighting them flickering low, casting everyone into shadows.

"You know, when my dad said the Slytherin common room was the _coolest_ , I didn't realise he meant it literally." Dori joked as they followed the group down each step.

Albus laughed at the dry joke, agreeing with Dori that yes, it was definitely becoming noticeably cooler the further down they descended the steps. In fact, Albus was sure he could hear Gisele's teeth beginning to chatter.

Once they had all emerged from the bottom of the stairwell into a dimly lit hallway, Henrietta continued leading them further into the hall, taking a few corners before finally stopping in front of what appeared to be their destination- a slate grey wall.

It seemed to be an exceptionally ordinary wall until it noticed the presence of the Slytherin crowd gathered before it and shimmered silver for a moment.

That shimmer evoked a murmur from a few of the first years, Albus included.

To Albus' mind, the wall seemed to be welcoming them, happy to allow them into their home for the school year.

Turning to face the small group of Slytherin first years, Henrietta addressed them all.

"For those of you who haven't figured it out, we're currently in the Hogwarts dungeons, and this wall behind me is the entrance to the Slytherin common room. There's a password, which you will need to say to the wall for it to let you in. Like so."

Turning back, she clearly spoke to the wall.

" _Salamander Spring."_

Shimmering once more, the wall slid open to reveal the Slytherin common room.

Turning to face the first years, Henrietta gestured them all in.

The Slytherin common room had two floors. The bottom floor was a wide open space. The walls and floor were rough stone, and from the ceiling hung two large silver chandeliers. Two windows, going from the floor to the ceiling, looked right into the lake and bracketed an enormous, ornate marble fireplace, which held a roaring fire.

Upon the mantle of the fireplace hung a massive portrait of the most royal looking snake Albus had ever seen. Silver bodied with glowing emerald eyes, Albus was struck by the thought, as he watched it writhe subtly within its frame, that he'd never thought a snake could look majestic.

A long black sofa sat in front of the fire, and matching black armchairs with green and silver throws were cast strategically around the rest of the space in clusters, accompanied by little black tables.

An opening in the wall on the bottom floor sat between two wide, curved sets of stairs that led to the upper floor.

The upper floor had a balcony, overlooking the bottom, and the floor was decorated with large desks, and armchairs. There were shelves of books lined along the walls. A slightly smaller fireplace than the one on the bottom floor sat in the corner.

Henrietta allowed the first years a few moments to gaze around their new common room and take in all they could, before clearing her throat to gather their attention.

"Alright, Lev is going to hand all of your class schedules out now. Lessons will begin on Monday, so you'll have the next two days to explore the castle and get your bearings."

Lev handed the schedules out in alphabetical order, so Albus received his schedule nearer to the end of the roll.

He put it in the pocket of his robes, thinking to study it later.

Once Lev had given everyone their schedules, Henrietta cleared her throat for their attention again.

"I mentioned outside that there is a password to the Slytherin common room. That password is changed every fortnight, and will be posted to that noticeboard." She informed them all, pointing to a giant black noticeboard.

"Right then. Now all that's left is to show you to your dormitories. If you'll all follow Lev."

All of the first years followed Lev as he headed everyone through the opening between the stairs into a wide hallway. A smaller version of the chandeliers hanging in the main space hung in the centre of the hallway, and seven framed archways, all covered with a set of emerald curtains, were evenly spaced along the walls- three on either side and one in the end wall.

"All of the dormitories are down this hallway." Lev called to them.

Albus watched as Lev drew back the curtains to an archway in the centre of the right wall, to reveal a set of downward stairs.

"About halfway down these stairs, there's a fork that'll lead to your dormitories. Girls, you're on the left and boys, you're on the right." He said to them.

"You'll find that your trunks and your pets are already in your dormitories, next to your beds. These will be your dorms for the next seven years, so make yourselves comfortable." He said, before looking to Henrietta.

"If any of you need anything, you can leave a note on the noticeboard, and we'll find you. All of you should settle in for the night. Breakfast begins at seven o'clock in the morning and ends at nine. Then lunch begins at twelve and finishes at quarter past one. Dinner begins at six o'clock and ends at eight. You can make your way into the Great Hall between any of those times. Also, we will post maps of the school to the noticeboard, so you may take one of those to help you make your way places. I suggest you all start to familiarise yourselves with the castle this weekend." Henrietta told them chipperly.

Albus thought that the prefects were done after that, but Lev addressed them all one more time.

"Before Henrietta and I go, I will share with you that Slytherin house is … isolated. We have a reputation that precedes us, and it isn't a good one. It's best if you lot get along because the other houses won't associate with our house. Even some of the teachers will turn a blind eye if we have an issue. So we band together in this house, and we stick up for each other. Do you all understand?" He said seriously.

The entire group of first years nodded their heads, peering around at each other.

Satisfied that they'd done and said all they needed to, Henrietta and Lev said goodnight and made their way to their own dormitories, which happened to be through the archway to the immediate right of the one Albus and his fellow first years currently stood in front of.

Descending the steps, the first years stayed silent, all thinking about what Lev had said.

At the fork, Scorpius quietly arranged to meet with Gisele at the noticeboard in the morning so they could go have breakfast together, and they separated to settle into the dorms.

The boys' dormitory was a deceptively large, open space, that contained six wide four-poster beds with emerald green curtains. There were three beds against either side wall. On one side of each bed was a bedside table, and on the other, a single desk. A thick, green rug ran along the centre of the room, leading to a large bay window seat, decorated with pillows and throws. The window looked into the lake.

Albus' trunk sat at the end of the bed closest to the window along the right-hand wall. On top of his trunk sat his ferret, Siriol, who was moving restlessly about her cage. Albus went to let her out.

"Only this area." He told her as he opened her cage, knowing she'd understand him. She gave him a grateful nuzzle on his hand, before scampering around the bed to familiarise herself with the new space.

Albus turned to glance around the dorm room, looking to see what beds Scorpius and Dori got. He saw that Scorpius was in the bed opposite Albus', and Dori was in the bed closest to the door.

Albus had been about to open his trunk to get something when one of the other boys, who he hadn't yet spoken to, called out around the room.

"Can anyone see a lizard? Mine isn't in his cage." His panicked voice called out.

Albus turned to see who'd spoken- it was a short boy with black hair, who was searching frantically around his area for his lizard, muttering quickly under his breath as he did so.

Albus searched his own area for a lizard but didn't find anything. He noticed all the other boys doing the same. Eventually, one of the boys Albus hadn't yet spoken to, announced that he'd found the short boy's lizard.

"It's here, under my bed." The boy who'd found the lizard said.

The short boy hurried over and crouched down, pulling his lizard into his hands.

"Ah, thanks." The boy said, shuffling his lizard into only one hand so that he could reach his other hand out to shake hands with the boy who'd found his pet.

"I'm Jakob. Neustroski. Good to meet you." He said.

"Etienne Zabini." The other boy responded, accepting the outstretched hand and shaking it firmly.

Turning, Jakob faced the rest of them.

"Thanks for all looking for my lizard, I really appreciate it. I met some of you at the feast, but not all of you. Shall we go around and introduce ourselves?" He asked.

Looking around at each other and nodding their heads yes to him, Jakob introduced himself first.

"I'm Jakob Neustroski. I'm a half-blood. And this is Bolt." He said, holding up his lizard. Then he looked to Etienne.

"Etienne Zabini. Pureblood. I don't have a pet." He said coolly, before looking at Dori.

"I'm Dori. Or Nott, if we're doing last names. Halfblood. Also no pet." Dori said with amusement before he looked to the next boy.

"I'm Beckett. Beckett Grimauldi. Um, I'm a Halfblood, and that's my cat, Ember." Beckett said, pointing to a ball of fur on his bed.

Then it was Albus' turn.

"I'm Albus Potter. Halfblood." He said before issuing a low whistle that had Siriol poking her head out from under his bed.

"And that's my ferret, Siriol." Albus finished, before looking to Scorpius.

"Scorpius Malfoy. Ah, Pureblood. This is my cat, Nyx." He said, gesturing towards his feet, where a black cat was weaving in and out of his legs, purring.

With the introductions all done, they all turned to resume what they had been doing prior.

Albus moved to his trunk to get out a piece of parchment, a quill, and an ink pot. When he had all those things, he went and sat at his desk, and wrote a letter to his parents.

It wasn't a particularly long letter, but it would do, he thought, as he read it to himself.

 _Dear Mum and Dad,_

 _Well, dad, you were right- the sorting hat did give me a choice. But, well, I didn't choose Gryffindor. Actually, I didn't choose anything- I just told it to place me where it wanted to; where it felt I would do best. It chose Slytherin, which I'm quite happy about, to be honest with you. I hope you aren't too disappointed, especially you, mum._

 _The common room is really cool. Did you know that it looks out into the lake? And there's this really cool portrait of a snake that hangs above the fireplace._

 _The prefects said that most of the other houses don't really like Slytherins, so we should all be friends with each other. I'm okay with that because I've made a few friends already, three to be exact. I really like them, and I think you'd both really like all of them, too. The other Slytherin first years seem alright, but I haven't spoken to them much._

 _I miss you both._

 _Love, Al._

Folding it up and leaving it on his desk, Albus figured he'd send it tomorrow, after breakfast.

Staying at his desk, Albus pulled his class schedule from his pocket and began studying it. Slytherin had Herbology and Charms with Ravenclaw, History of Magic and Transfiguration with Hufflepuff, and Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions with Gryffindor. His very first lesson for the year would be Herbology with the Ravenclaws.

Having finished perusing his schedule, calling out goodnight to the other occupants of the dorm room, Albus stood and pulled his curtains shut around his bed. He retrieved his pyjamas from his trunk, and after changing, settled into his bed. He was feeling rather tired now, and as he began drifting off to sleep, Albus felt Siriol clamber up onto his bed and ball up next to his face. Muttering a soft 'Goodnight' to her, Albus drifted off completely.

Over the next day and a half, Albus spent all of his time with Dori, Scorpius and Gisele. They had taken one map from the board to share between them and explored as much as they could of the castle- including the grounds. The first place they had been to visit was the Owlery, so they could all send off the letters they'd written for their parents. Then, they'd gone looking for all their classrooms, so they wouldn't get lost on Monday. After that, they'd had lunch, and then gone wandering about the grounds. They quickly found the Quidditch pitch and did a lap of the lake.

Albus had also taken the other three to meet Hagrid, who they found tending to his pumpkin patch outside of his hut.

He had invited them in and chatted with them about a 'special creature' he had gotten special permission to bring in for his sixth and seventh year Care of Magical Creatures classes. Scorpius was particularly interested in hearing about the magical creatures, and it endeared him greatly to Hagrid, who had been initially sketchy of allowing a Malfoy into his hut.

They'd visited with Hagrid for a couple of hours before they decided to head back to the castle for dinner. As they were leaving his hut, Albus gave Hagrid his assurances that he would be coming to the tea that Hagrid had invited him and his brother to, on Friday. With that, Albus, Dori, Scorpius and Gisele set back off to the castle.

Albus hadn't run into any of his family members once over the two days they'd had to explore. Probably because he had been avoiding all of them.

The night before school lessons began, found Albus, Scorpius, Dori and Gisele, settling into four available armchairs in the rather empty upper floor of the Slytherin common room, chatting with each other for hours on end. They talked about the classes they were excited for, and where else they wanted to explore in the castle, and whether they'd do well at Hogwarts. They talked about their favourite Quidditch teams, and music groups, and what they might like to do when they were older.

Eventually, the topic of their families came up. Albus found all three of their upbringings to be very interesting.

Gisele had a Wizard father and a Muggle mother, so Albus had naturally assumed she was a Half-blood like himself. Dori clearly thought the same as Albus did, because he said, "Oh, you're a Half-blood too?"

But Gisele's response had not been the simple "Yes", that Albus had been expecting.

"No," she said, "I'm actually a Pureblood. Not that that means anything at all really." She stated with a snort.

At that, Albus, Scorpius and Dori, shot looks of confusion at her.

Seeing the looks on all of their faces, Gisele let out a short laugh and then launched into a brief explanation.

"My biological mother died really soon after she had me. I was raised by my step-mother- who's a muggle- from a really young age. When I refer to 'my mum', she's who I'm talking about. But my birth mother, she was a Pureblood witch." She said.

Understanding dawned on all three boys, and she smiled at them all.

She talked a little bit more about her family and mentioned that she had two older sisters, and two older (step) brothers, who were all close in age to each other, but a fair bit older than her.

"Anyway," She said eventually, looking around at them, "What about you lot?"

Dori talked about his family next and shared that he was an only child who, in his own words, was a bit of an accident.

"Yeah, my parents love me and all, but I wasn't actually in any of their plans." Dori had informed them all, joking.

"Dad's parents were death-eaters, and dad was being investigated by the Ministry for also being in with the dark side. So he figured he'd shack up with my mum, who's Muggleborn and then they'd think he couldn't be in with Voldemort. Except well, a few Firewhiskey's too many one night, and, bam! Here I am!" Dori finished with a dramatic wave of his hands.

He'd then gone on to reveal that his parents hadn't been together since he was two years old, and his parents had what he called a 'week about' arrangement with him.

"One week with mum and one week with dad." He had said to them.

Dori talked about his family for a while longer, telling them about his Muggle family members, who he seemed to adore, and his dad's parents, who were still in Azkaban, and who he had to go with his dad to visit once a month.

Soon it was Albus' turn to share.

"Er, I have three siblings." Albus began.

"Well, technically two, but Teddy, the oldest is my dad's god-child, and he was raised with us. So we've always considered him one of us." He said, feeling the need to explain his family as properly as Gisele and Dori had explained theirs.

"I'm the middle child. Mum was already at home with James, and dad was working as an Auror, so my parents didn't really have to change anything drastically to accommodate for me." Albus told them with a wry grin.

"My parents are great. My dad, he's excessively proud of us all. And mum's really on to it- nothing gets past her, honestly. Although I think Kreature helps her with that."

Frowning in confusion, Gisele asked Albus who Kreature was.

"Oh, he's my dad's house-elf. He's bloody ancient, and a bit batty." Albus told her.

Albus chatted about his family for a little bit longer. He told them about the Weasley gatherings they had, and all his cousins, and his Gran's fantastic cooking.

Finally, he turned to Scorpius.

"What about you?" He asked him.

Scorpius seemed to hesitate for a moment before he started talking.

"Well, I'm an only child. Mother had quite a bad time carrying me, so her and Father decided to have no more." Scorpius told them.

"And Mother has family, but they feel quite uncomfortable around Father, so we don't see them much. People don't really like to associate with us, because the Malfoy name is, well… you know." He let his sentence die off feebly.

An awkward silence descended upon them for a moment, no one knowing what to say before Scorpius started speaking again.

"My dad, he's really protective of me." He told them all quietly. "He was really worried about sending me to Hogwarts. He thought I might struggle here, because of who he is. That I might not be able to make friends and whatnot, because I'm a Malfoy."

Dori stared hard at Scorpius for a moment, and then at Albus, too. He seemed to be debating something in his head.

"You know," Dori began slowly, sounding more serious than Albus had yet heard him sound, "both of you know, who your parents are, what they've done, what's been said about them in the media, it doesn't affect how I-"

"We." Gisele cut in sharply, before nodding at Dori to continue.

"How _we_ see _you._ " Dori finished.

Both Scorpius and Albus offered Dori sincere 'thank you's', and Scorpius, looking much happier than he had a minute prior, resumed talking about his family. He revealed that his father's mother spoilt him quite rotten, and it drove his mother a little bit crazy. He mentioned that his father's father was quite a hard man, especially since his release from Azkaban, but he did love his family. He talked about his house-elf, Sookie, who cried worse than his mother at his departure to Hogwarts.

Once Scorpius had finished speaking, Gisele glanced at her watch, and after pulling an 'oops' face at the time, she suggested that they'd better get to bed.

As they headed off to the dormitories, agreeing to meet at the common room entrance to go to breakfast together, Gisele turned towards the girls dorms, called out goodnight, and disappeared through the door.

The next morning at breakfast, a few Owl's came in through the window, into the Great Hall. The barn owl that Albus had borrowed to send a letter to his parents, was one of them. It came to a stop in front of him and offered Albus his leg, to which two letters were tied. The owl swooped off as soon as Albus had removed the letters fully.

Opening the first letter, Albus read it carefully.

 _Al,_

 _Your mother and I are proud of you, no matter what house you're in, son. She was a bit put out that you thought she might be more disappointed in you than I would be._

 _I snuck into the Slytherin common room once, in my second year at Hogwarts. It was… not the best. Honestly, it was a little bit ugly. I remember there being skulls all around, and the room itself having this greenish tinge. Is the decor still like that?_

 _I'm happy to hear that you've already made some friends. What are they like?_

 _I miss you too, son. Write again soon._

 _Love, Dad._

Feeling a bit put out that his dad remembered the Slytherin common room as ugly, Albus made a mental note to write another letter to his dad, describing the common room in excruciating detail. He was otherwise happy though, with his dad's response.

Opening the second letter, Albus read it just as carefully.

 _Al,_

 _How could you think I'd be disappointed in you, at all? I know you're going to do fantastic, whatever house you're in. You're a kind, decent, good boy, and your being in Slytherin house isn't going to change any of that. I'm always going to be proud of you._

 _Now, tell me more about your new friends. What are their names? What are they like. Give me details- I want to know all about them._

 _Also, unlike your father, I never snuck into the Slytherin common room, so I may need you to paint a clearer picture for me. Tell me more about what it's like there._

 _I want you to write to me after your first day, to tell me how your lessons go._

 _I miss you, darling._

 _Love, Mum._

Feeling chuffed at his mother's response, Albus decided he couldn't wait to write his mum back, and tell her all about his new friends, and the Slytherin common room, and how his classes today went.

"You lot ready to head to class?" Albus asked his friends.

They all offered positive affirmations, and the four of them stood, collected their bags, and made their way to their first lesson for the school year.


	3. Chapter 3

_****N.B: To the people that left reviews for me- thank you very much! My apologies for updating this so belatedly, but it took me a really long time to write this chapter. It just wasn't really happening for me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.**_

 **CHAPTER 3:**

The four of them made their way rather quickly to Greenhouse One for their first lesson of the year- Herbology with Professor Longbottom. They arrived at their class and saw that there were a fair few students already milling about. Albus recognised most of their faces from the sorting. No one spoke to them, but plenty of looks were shot in their direction, particularly towards Scorpius.

The class began quite soon after that, with Neville, who Albus had to remember to call Professor Longbottom, inviting them all into the greenhouse and letting them settle in.

Their first Herbology lesson passed by rather quickly, with Professor Longbottom introducing them to the class and explaining what they would be doing for the term. They were to study plants and fungi and discover their uses. Professor Longbottom's enthusiasm for his subject was extremely apparent, and it encouraged them to approach the subject with a similar sort of enthusiasm.

Throughout the entire lesson, there wasn't a great deal of interaction between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students, which apparently put out a few of the first year Slytherin girls.

"Honestly. We sat with them on the train _and_ the boat. Now they won't speak to us because we're in Slytherin? Ridiculous!" A sturdy, dark-haired girl whispered furiously to the girl next to her.

Albus hadn't realised that the Ravenclaw students were actively avoiding any interaction with the Slytherins, but he supposed it made sense. It certainly fit with what Lev had said to them to expect about Slytherin's isolation.

Herbology finished with Professor Longbottom wishing them all well for the rest of their first day and sending them on their way to their next class- Charms with Professor Flitwick.

The group of first years moved like a herd from the Herbology greenhouse, to the Charms classroom, despite there being limited interaction between the two houses.

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher and deputy head of the school, ushered all of the students inside when they arrived at his classroom.

The classroom had three rows of desks, all facing the teacher's table, behind which sat a large upholstered chair with a high back. Two blackboards stood behind the teacher's table, and behind those, sat a small shelf with books and other objects.

"Welcome, students, to Charms." Professor Flitwick began in a squeaky, high-pitched voice.

"Here, you will learn to understand both the theoretical and practical applications of basic charms, and as you progress throughout your years at this school, you will learn more advanced magic. Today, we will be learning to perform a simple levitation charm."

As he spoke, he waved his own wand and floated feathers to the desk of every student.

"Now, we'll get right into it, shall we? I want you all to repeat after me when I say the incantation for this charm: _Wingardium Leviosa._ Now all of you say it."

The class practised saying the incantation for a while, until Flitwick called for silence so that he could show them the wand movement.

"Now, as you say the incantation, you need to remember to swish and flick your wrist. Like so."

Demonstrating the proper wrist movement, Flitwick directed everyone to draw their wands and practice the movement, themselves.

"Right. Now you all know what to do. You may begin levitating your feathers."

Albus had thought that he would enjoy Charms and that he would enjoy getting to do wand work. He thought wrong. Wand work proved to be quite stressful for him, and it was obvious to Albus very quickly into the lesson that Charms was not going to be a subject in which he excelled- at all.

For all his efforts, the feather that Professor Flitwick had him trying to levitate would not lift. It shuddered slightly, but actual upwards movement did not occur, and it was rather frustrating. Dori and Gisele hadn't any trouble at all getting their feathers to float, and Scorpius had gotten it after a fair few tries, but Albus could not levitate the feather for the life of him.

"Al, your wrist is really stiff. When you swish, make the movement looser." Gisele told him patiently.

Nodding his head, Albus tried adjusting his wrist movement the way Gisele had suggested, and the charm worked a little better. The feather floated upwards about two inches, before floating back down to the desk.

"Good! That's really good. Now you just have to keep practising it." She told him encouragingly.

Charms finished soon after, and unlike Longbottom, Flitwick gave them homework to do.

"I want you all to complete one parchment on the uses of the levitation charm, and how to correctly perform it. I expect it to be done by Wednesday." Flitwick told them all in his high pitched voice.

"Now, off you go." He said, dismissing them.

The first years filed out.

"We have History of Magic and Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs after lunch." Scorpius said, looking over his schedule as they headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Teddy and James both reckon History of Magic is a real bore." Albus remarked.

"Yeah, Jules and Moo said the same. Moo said the history itself is interesting, but the teacher makes everything seem boring." Gisele added, speaking of her sisters, who had both already come to and finished at Hogwarts.

"Brilliant! Sounds like it'll be a muck around class then." Dori said, grinning impishly, as they finally entered the Great Hall.

Lunch was a rather quick affair, and the four of them found themselves with forty minutes to spare before their next class began.

"Are we going to go anywhere, or shall we just sit in here?" Dori asked looking at them.

They were all silent for a moment, looking between each other.

"Ooh, I have a muggle deck of cards on me. We can play with those if you want?" Gisele offered.

"What, you just carry a muggle deck of cards around with you all the time?" Dori asked with mild amusement.

"No, not usually. My brother gave me the cards as a parting gift, and I checked our class schedule for the day, this morning, and saw that we had History of Magic. My sisters had already told me how boring the class was, so I figured I'd bring them to amuse myself." She responded easily.

Scorpius seemed extremely interested in playing with the muggle cards, having never played any sort of muggle game in his life, so that's what they spent the next forty minutes doing. Gisele ended up teaching them three games, one of which Dori already knew.

Albus decided very quickly that he quite liked Muggle card games, especially the game Gisele called _'Bull'_.

He also noted to himself very quickly that Dori was _extremely_ competitive, which made it rather amusing when he came dead last in eight out of the nine games they played.

"You cheated. You did too. And you." Dori said sulkily, stabbing his finger first at Albus, then at Scorpius, then Gisele.

Albus grinned.

"The whole purpose of the game is to see who can lie the best, mate. You're supposed to cheat." He informed Dori, merrily.

"In the other games! You all cheated in the other games. I can't figure out how, but you did!" Dori replied, pouting.

"Okay, well, figure out how he cheated on the way to class or we'll be late." Gisele said amusedly, gathering the cards and putting them back into the pocket of her robes.

Dori huffed but didn't say much else, instead choosing to sulk heavily. With that, the four of them stood and made their way to History of Magic.

History of Magic with the Hufflepuff's proved to be just as boring as Albus had been told to expect it was. The teacher- a Hogwarts ghost named Binns- was monotonous and dull. Twenty minutes into the lesson, Scorpius was dozing off into his hand, next to Albus, and Dori and Gisele were playing a muggle card game together at the table in front of Albus and Scorpius. They were clearly finding the class as interesting as Albus found it, which was to say, not at all.

When the class finally ended, the four of them headed slowly towards their next class- Transfiguration with Professor Goldberg. It took mere minutes to reach the Transfiguration classroom because it was rather close to the History of Magic classroom.

The Transfiguration professor was a short stocky man, who was excessively stern and rather intimidating. The class were barely sat in their seats when he was demanding their attention.

"I have you three times a week- on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. We will be taking notes and doing theory for the first two lessons of the week, and on the third, we will do wandwork. I expect you all to be here on time, with the correct equipment. Under no circumstance will I accept excuses or tolerate ill behaviour." He barked out.

His brusque tone startled most of the students, who, until that point, hadn't had any particular teacher be overly harsh.

The Transfiguration lesson passed by far quicker than Albus thought it would, but still not fast enough. Come the end of the lesson, Goldberg set them slightly more homework than Flitwick had, and dismissed them all impatiently.

That night, Albus wrote a long letter to his parents, telling them how his first day of classes had gone. He also figured he might as well bite the bullet and let them know that one of his new friends was a Malfoy. He didn't really know how they'd feel about that, but he hoped they wouldn't be too bothered.

The next morning, Albus was sitting in the Great Hall with Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, finishing breakfast.

Scorpius, Albus was coming to realise, was not a morning person. He was sulking grumpily about nothing and everything. Albus found it more than a little amusing to watch his friend mutter under his breath and shoot glares at random other students who looked at him funny.

Scorpius was still a little grumpy when they arrived at their first lesson of the day.

Herbology began and passed by rather quickly, and before Albus knew it, he was seated in his next class- Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) with the Gryffindors.

DADA was the first class the Slytherins shared with the Gryffindors; the first class Albus shared with Rose. Albus hadn't really talked to Rose since the incident on the train, but he found that that hadn't particularly bothered him, which was odd, because he had regarded her as his closest friend for a long time.

Once they were in DADA, Rose alternated between issuing disapproving glances at Albus and focusing on the teacher- whom Albus honestly thought was quite idiotic.

The teacher- Professor Johnson- seemed ill-prepared to actually teach anything, and spent the majority of the lesson regaling the class with stories of 'The Best Magic School In The World', Ilvermorny- the American Wizarding school.

When Professor Johnson finally dismissed them from her class, Albus stood with his friends to leave to the Great Hall for lunch, but he had barely exited the classroom when he heard his name being called.

Turning, Albus made eye contact with his cousin, who was heading over to him, a determined look in her eye.

"You lot go ahead. I'll meet you there." He said, glancing quickly at his friends.

The three of them shared a glance with each other, before nodding and heading off to the Great Hall.

Albus faced Rose fully, eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes?"

Rose marched forward until she came to a stop in front of him. She looked uncomfortable for a second, and then:

"I think you should stop being friendly with Malfoy!" She blurted out all at once.

Albus' eyebrows shot up. He didn't even have to question whether or not Rose was being serious. He knew she was.

"I just think that it isn't a good look. I mean, it's bad enough that you're in Slytherin, but honestly, Al, being friends with a Malfoy? It's really disrespectful to your parents! And to my parents too. How do you think they would fe-"

"Stop it." Albus cut in sharply.

"I don't want to hear anythin-"

"No, Al, Listen to me!" Rose said, grabbing at Albus' arm.

"I really think that you shouldn't hang out with Scorpius. You have to understand, he's going to be -"

"Stop. It. I don't want to hear it."

Turning his back to her, Albus stalked off to the Great Hall to catch up with his friends.

When Albus finally arrived at the Great Hall, he spotted his friends chatting together at one end of the Slytherin table, picking food off of their plates.

"How'd your talk go, mate?" Dori asked Albus when he finally sat with them.

"It went rubbish." Albus muttered back, sitting down and helping himself to a few mini mincemeat pies, and a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"What? Why?" Gisele asked him, frowning.

"She's being an idiot." Albus said, feeling himself begin to get frustrated. Rose's words had thrown him for a bit of a loop.

Later on that evening, Albus was heading up to the Owlery, to post his 'first day of school' letter, to his parents, accompanied by only Dori.

"Mate, what's going on?" Dori asked him as they left the owlery.

"You've been sour since you spoke with your cousin. What happened?"

Albus hesitated for a moment before answering.

"She told me that I shouldn't be friends with Scor, and then she threw in my face that my parents probably wouldn't like it." Albus confided to Dori.

"She seemed kind of, I don't know, adamant that I shouldn't be friends with him. And it really got to me. I mean, she knows how much it kind of sucks to always be compared to our parents. She would never admit it to anyone, but she hates how she always gets compared to her mum. I don't know. I guess I just thought she would be … nicer to him."

Dori mused silently for a moment, before offering Albus some advice.

"I wouldn't sit on it too hard mate. From what you've just said, it kind of sounds like maybe something else might be going on with your cousin, but I don't know, mate. Give it some time. She'll come around."

The next day, they had their first Potions lesson of the year, which Albus was really looking forward to. He'd always thought that potions were so fascinating, and it was his life's goal, to create his own potion that would help people like his Uncle George.

The Potions classroom was in the dungeons. The teacher, a jolly little woman called Professor Bruxom, became stern only once to give them a warning.

"Now, I want to be very clear. I won't tolerate anyone messing with someone else's potion. If I catch anyone tampering with another students potion, I'll be issuing them detention. What's more, I'll deduct fifty house points from your house. Are we all clear?" She asked, staring around the class, hands fisted on her wide hips.

The way she phrased her statement made Albus think that she quite often caught students trying to tamper with someone else's potion.

For their first Potions lesson, Bruxom decided that they'd each be making a simple Alihotsy Draught.

"Now, this potion is one of the simplest you could make. There isn't much that could go wrong, so this will just be a fun little way to introduce you all to Potions." She told the class.

"Do make sure though, to not inhale the potion, or it could cause hysteria. Right, children- page 38, if you will."

Bruxom's simple potion, turned out not to be so simple for Gisele, who's cauldron was playing host to a gunky, orange, mess, half an hour into the lesson.

"I don't understand why it looks like this _._ I really don't. I'm going to get Bruxom to come and look at it." Gisele said irritably, before stalking off to get the teacher.

"You know, of all the classes I thought that she'd struggle with, I didn't really pick potions to be it." Dori said with a hint of amusement.

Albus laughed, nodding his head in agreement. Of all of them, Gisele had been the one to breeze through all of their classes so far, so for her to be so tragically terrible at what honestly was, very simple, was quite surprising.

Turning his head, Albus put his focus back on his own potion, which was boiling steadily. He was so focused on his potion, he barely noticed someone approaching him. Before Albus knew what was happening, he had Flobberworm mucus thrown on his robes 'on accident', by a random Gryffindor girl.

"Oops, I'm so clumsy." She said sneeringly, smirking as a bewildered Albus snapped his head towards her.

"What did you do that for?" Dori snapped at the girl, glaring.

"Do what for?" She said, playing dumb.

Albus frowned.

Dori gave her a hard look. Then his eyes flickered off to something else for a moment, before flicking back to the girl. Narrowing his eyes, Dori shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Whatever. Karma." Dori told her abruptly, before turning back to his own potion.

Albus was slightly confused by Dori's sudden change in attitude, and the girl clearly was too. She opened her mouth to reply, but Scorpius cut her off. He pointed to her potion brew which was bubbling very dramatically out of her cauldron in varying shades of brown, and said, very calmly, "You should probably go fix that."

Turning to see what Scorpius was talking about, she let out a small shriek and ran over to try and salve what she could of her draught.

"Huh. I guess she shouldn't have left her potion alone. Pity." Gisele remarked dryly, appearing at Albus' side and startling him a little.

"Well," said Scorpius in quiet amusement, "I expect that she didn't think anyone would sabotage it, after Bruxom's warning."

Albus spun his head to face Gisele, who had a vicious gleam in her eye.

"Well, it certainly isn't _my_ fault that she left her potion unattended." She said haughtily.

"Wait. Did you ruin her potion?" Albus asked Gisele in slight disbelief.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why?" Albus asked in an undertone, unable to understand why she'd risk detention and a fifty point deduction from Slytherin house.

"You know, some people should really learn to be nicer to people who have vengeful friends." Gisele said matter-of-factly, staring at Albus.

Tilting his head towards her, Albus felt a wide smile overtake his face. He couldn't help it.

"You risked house points, and detention, for me?" He asked her quietly.

"You're welcome." She replied primly.

Albus knew he shouldn't condone her behaviour. Knew it was wrong. But knowing that he had friends who would happily break rules for him, made him feel quite good.

Bruxom approached their table shortly after, to assess the potion Gisele had asked for her help in fixing.

"Well dearie, not everyone can be gifted in this art." Bruxom said kindly, a moment after she'd looked into Gisele's cauldron.

"I think maybe next time, you'd better partner up with someone." Bruxom said, patting Gisele's shoulder and receiving a scowl in response.

"You, on the other hand. Your draught looks like it's coming along perfectly. Perhaps you could help Ms Fawley in the next lesson?" Bruxom said, eyeing Albus' draught happily.

Albus beamed. He loved potions.

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly, and midnight eventually saw a tired group of Slytherins, gathered with an equally tired group of Hufflepuffs on the astronomy tower, charting a constellation that Albus could barely recall the name of.

The next day was Thursday, and Thursday afternoon meant the first Quidditch lesson of the year. Slytherin and Gryffindor first years gathered on the Quidditch pitch, waiting for their first flying lesson to begin.

The teacher was the same one Albus' parents had had- although now she was very aged- named Hooch. Her skin was weathered and lined, but her gleaming, yellow, hawk eyes, were sharp, and her voice was firm.

She began the lesson by blowing her whistle sharply and giving them instructions.

"All of you, next to a broom! Hurry up!"

"Now, hold your right hand out over your brooms. In a nice, strong voice, I want you all to say 'Up' until your broom is in your hand."

There was a chorus of "Up's" and one broom flew immediately upwards, the rest coming slightly off of the ground before settling back onto the grass. Scorpius stood there in surprise, the only student to have gotten his broom up and into his hand on the first go.

All of the first years glanced at Scorpius, frowned, and began telling their broom's 'Up' again. Albus noticed that Rose was looking particularly red in the face as she tried commanding it into her hands.

Albus, Dori and Gisele, had called their own brooms into their hands shortly after Scorpius had, and once the final student had his broom in his hand, Madam Hooch began issuing instructions for them to mount the brooms and hover.

This was trickier than most of the class had anticipated it would be.

Scorpius hovered very steadily, Albus, steadily enough, but Dori and Gisele were both rather shaky on their brooms, although they both were getting steadier the longer they hovered.

By the time the Quidditch lesson had ended, Scorpius was in a fantastic mood. The four of them headed back to the common room for the afternoon, Scorpius chatting excitedly all the way.

"Did you see? It came right up!" He kept saying excitedly.

"You were great, Scor!" Albus told his friend earnestly.

"And when I hovered, it didn't wobble or anything! I can't wait to tell my dad. He'll be so pleased!" Scorpius said happily.

"I practice with him, you know. A lot. He loves flying." Scorpius told them as they entered the dungeons.

That night, the four of them went to bed early, after completing their homework.

Friday morning saw Albus receive letters from his parents, which put him in a fantastic mood for the entire day. Both of them had told him that despite there being tension between the Weasley/Potters and the Malfoys, they weren't upset about his being friends with a Malfoy. They were just happy for him that he had made what sounded like such good friends, so quickly.

Classes came and went before Albus even knew it, and he was amazed to realise, he had completed his first full week at Hogwarts.

Albus had plans for tea with Hagrid that night. Hagrid had invited both Albus and James before the Hogwarts school year had even started, and Albus was quite excited for it. James had sent him a brief letter that morning, saying to meet him in the school courtyard so they could head to Hagrid's hut, together. Albus had been waiting in the courtyard for five minutes when he heard his name being called.

"Al!" James called out, as he swaggered over.

Once James reached Albus, the pair of them began walking down to Hagrid's hut. They'd been walking in silence for only a moment when James started speaking.

"So. You're in Slytherin." James began.

"Nothing gets passed you, James." Albus intoned sarcastically, inciting a huff from his brother.

"I know I teased you about it all the time, Al, but that's all it was. Teasing. I didn't think you'd actually go and get yourself into bloody Slytherin." James said, looking at Albus.

"I didn't choose Slytherin, the Sorting Hat chose Slytherin. And mum and dad don't have a problem with it, why should you?" Albus pointed out to his brother, a little bit defensively.

James' face looked incredulous.

"Al, you can't be happy to be in that house? You literally were screaming on Platform nine and three quarters that you _wouldn't_ be in Slytherin!" James said.

Albus glanced sheepishly at his brother and shrugged his shoulders, unable to find a response. He had behaved rather poorly towards Slytherin house prior to coming to Hogwarts.

"So you're happy then? To be in Slytherin? Like, you're alright?" James asked Albus in a feigned casualness.

Albus gave James an odd look for a moment before a small smile played across his lips.

"Jamie, are you worried about me?" Albus asked his brother teasingly.

"No." James said quickly.

"You are!" Albus said, laughing. "Don't worry Jamie, I'm good in Slytherin. I've made friends and everything." Albus told his brother, smiling.

"Yes, I know you've made friends, Al. I've seen you hanging out with the Malfoy." James responded dryly.

Albus' smile stilled a little, but he didn't comment. The pair of them continued on towards Hagrid's hut, a silence settling between them.

Albus really enjoyed dinner with Hagrid. He joked with his brother and shared his week with Hagrid, who was ecstatic to be having tea with them. When tea finished, Hagrid walked them back to the castle.

"Oh, Al, I almos' forgot. Tell li'l Scorpius tha' the Occamy should 'atch any day now. I'll send 'im an owl, let 'im know when, so if he'd like, he can come down to visit with em'." Hagrid told Albus as they were walking.

James' head had whipped around, and he stared agape at Hagrid.

"Hang on, Hagrid, you're inviting Malfoy to your home? To visit with your Occamy?" James asked him, stunned.

"Well, why wouldn't I?" Hagrid asked him jovially.

"But … he's a Malfoy." James said.

"Well spotted." Albus intoned sarcastically, earning an elbow in the rib from his brother.

"Aye, he is tha'. But he likes the Occamy- more in'erested than mos' me class were." Hagrid told James.

"How does Malfoy even know you have Occamy?" James asked Hagrid.

"Albus broug' 'im down las' weekend to meet me, with the other two. I told 'im all about 'em." Hagrid said pleasantly.

"Huh." Was James' intelligent response.

Ten minutes later, Albus and James were standing at the mouth of a wide staircase. Hagrid had bid them both good night, and gone back to his hut.

"Al, I, uh, I suppose Malfoy can't be all bad, yeah?" James said slowly.

"He's brilliant." Albus replied.

James smirked at that.

"Aww, Al, got yourself a little crush?" He said mockingly.

"Shut up! He's my friend." Albus snapped at him.

James chuckled, and ran his hands through his hair.

"Whatever, I'm off to bed now. Night." James said, as he turned and headed up the stairs.

"Night." Albus muttered softly at his brothers retreating form.

Turning, Albus headed quickly for the dungeons. There, he entered the Slytherin common room, and found his friends huddled together upstairs, playing a muggle card game Gisele called ' _P's and A's'_.

"How was dinner, mate?" Dori said without glancing up.

"It was good. Hagrid says 'hi'. Oh, and Scor, he said the Occamy should hatch soon, so you can go down and see them. He said he'll send you a letter when to go down." Albus said.

Glancing up, Scorpius smiled wide.

"Brilliant. I'll write him to say you told me. Thanks mate." He replied.

Albus spent the next few hours with Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, playing a number of muggle games, including one Dori introduced to them all, called _Pictionary_. Some of the other first years joined in too, and Albus decided he quite liked the Flint girl. Olivia, her name was.

None of them wanted to sleep, because they had astronomy at Midnight, although Scorpius did doze off at one point.

That weekend passed in a blur, and before Albus knew it, he was back in greenhouse one for his first lesson of week two.

The second week into classes confirmed for Albus that he was definitely utter rubbish at nearly everything that included wandwork- outside of potions-, so he started spending time every night going over the charms, jinxes and spells they'd learnt in class, with Gisele or Dori. Gisele worked out to be a slightly better teacher than Dori, so Albus spent about half an hour with her every night, practising. Then they would spend another half hour after that going over their potions work for Gisele. As awful as Albus was at wandwork, Gisele was even worse at brewing potions. With each other's help, they both slowly improved.

Before Albus knew it, three months at Hogwarts had passed by. He had settled into Hogwarts spectacularly, and could honestly say that he considered Dori, Scorpius and Gisele to be his best friends. He had also become friends with the other Slytherin first years because just as Lev had said, Slytherin house was quite isolated.

It hadn't been as noticeable in the first couple of weeks at Hogwarts, but by early-October, it had become glaringly obvious to Albus, just how much the other houses disliked Slytherin. All of the Slytherin students received a fair amount of hostility from the other houses, and just like Lev had told them, certain teachers would turn a blind eye if they saw any Slytherin students being hassled in the corridors or in classes. Though no Slytherin student received half as much grief as Scorpius did.

It slowly became more and more of a regular occurrence for another student to 'accidentally' shove Scorpius in the hallway, or for his things to 'randomly' break. Scorpius took it all on the chin. He never gave anyone a reaction, and if he got upset? No one ever knew it. Albus, Dori and Gisele stepped in where they could, and Gisele had even gotten into a heated argument with a third-year boy, but it was getting to be very stressful, and it led to the four of them spending most of their time outside of a classroom, cooped up in the common room.

"Honestly, Scor." Albus finally said to him one night. "You have to tell a teacher, or-"

"Tell a teacher what, Al? That someone bumped into me in the corridor?" Scorpius said irritably, cutting Albus off.

"Or that my bag broke? There isn't a great deal I expect they'll be able to do about that." Scorpius finished in an odd tone, tugging on the hem of his robes.

"Mate, you've gotta do something." Dori piped in. "They're attacking you for no reason. Constantly."

"It is what it is. Just ignore it." Scorpius said, his robe tugging becoming harder.

"Scor, yo-"

"I don't want to talk about it. Look, I'm tired, I'm just going to go to bed." Scorpius interrupted. Without saying anything more, Scorpius turned and headed for the dormitories.

"Great. Good going, guys." Gisele muttered to them as Scorpius left.

"What? Why are you saying it like that?" Dori asked indignantly.

" _Because,_ " she stressed to them, " _everything_ that's happened to him in the corridors can be fobbed off, and you _both_ know it. Honestly, what do you expect that he should do? If he runs to a teacher, he'll just look like he's upset that his bag is broken. There isn't any way for him to show that someone purposely broke it." She finished, frustrated.

"What are we going to do, then?" Albus asked quietly.

"I don't know!" Gisele snapped impatiently.

"I don't know." She repeated in a small voice.

It unsettled Albus to think that there wasn't much he could do for his friend.


	4. Chapter 4

_****N.B: This chapter gets kind of 'dark', apparently, so if you aren't into any sort of conflict, I probably wouldn't read if I were you.**_

 _ **But otherwise, I hope you enjoy it!**_

 **CHAPTER 4:**

Four days later, the four of them were sitting together upstairs in the common room, discussing their Christmas plans. Albus was going home for Christmas, which he was extremely excited about. He missed his parents dearly, and although he wrote them nearly every week, it wasn't the same as being with them in person.

Dori, Scorpius and Gisele were all going home for Christmas as well. Of all of them, Dori was probably the least excited.

"I love my dad, I do." Dori told them insistently. "But it's his Christmas this year, which means we have to visit his parents. In Azkaban. I bloody hate Azkaban." He complained to them all.

"That's rough, mate." Scorpius told him sympathetically.

"I'm sure your Christmas won't be _that_ bad." Albus told him, trying to be comforting.

He received a very dry look for his efforts. Shrugging his shoulders, Albus blatantly changed the subject to their DADA assignment that was due the next day.

Three weeks later, the four of them were huddled together in their final class before Christmas break. No one had been paying very much attention, so Professor Longbottom had eventually decided to just let them chat amongst themselves for the afternoon.

That night, they travelled to Hogsmeade station, not in boats, but in carriages that were being drawn by invisible creatures.

"My dad told me about the creatures that draw these things! They're called Thestrals. My dad says that they look like skeletal horses with wings. They're considered to be a bad omen, because they can only be seen by those who have witnessed death." Scorpius told them excitedly as the four of them clambered into one of the carriages.

The carriage ride didn't last very long, and in no time at all, they were being drawn into Hogsmeade station and boarding the Hogwarts Express. When the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross Station, the four of them hugged each other goodbye and headed off to find their families.

Albus had been home from Hogwarts for two days when his parents decided to have Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione over for dinner- along with Rose and Hugo.

Albus had told his parents that he and Rose weren't really speaking, so they were prepared for the tension that now existed between him and Rose. Rose, however, hadn't told her own parents, and it appeared to be very confusing for Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron when Albus and Rose, who had always been very close, would barely look at each other.

Everything was going fine until Uncle Ron called Albus out at the table.

"Al, what's this Rosie says about you being friends with the Malfoy kid?" Uncle Ron had asked him, frowning.

Aunt Hermione shoved her elbow into his ribs, and Albus' mum shot him a withering glare.

"Not that we have a problem with it." Uncle Ron muttered, sullenly.

"I told you, dad, he's not just a friend. He's one of Albus' _best_ friends." Rose said, clear displeasure ringing in her tone.

"Yeah. He is. So what?" Albus snapped out, glaring at her. For the life of him, Albus could not understand what Rose's problem was.

"So-"

"Enough!" Albus' mum barked, cutting Rose off.

Albus and Rose both snapped their heads towards her, going silent. An angry Ginny Potter was not someone to be ignored. Everyone else was sitting at the table rather awkwardly. Albus' dad was studying his fork very interestedly, Aunt Hermione looked a little flustered, and Uncle Ron was looking a little wary.

"Teddy, take James, Lily and Hugo to the bedroom please." Albus' mum said firmly.

She waited until Teddy had left the room with the others before she began speaking again.

"You two-" she said, pointing at Albus and Rose, "are going to sit here with us and tell us what is going on. Rose, you start."

Rose sat quietly in her chair, fidgeting about. She looked warily between her parents, Albus, and Albus' parents.

Finally, she drew a quiet breath.

"I think I should say this to just Al."

Albus' mum looked between Albus and Rose for a minute, then shared a look with Aunt Hermione.

"Alright. Both of you can stay in here until you sort it out. We'll be in the living room if you need anything." Aunt Hermione said after a moment, tugging Uncle Ron's sleeve and guiding him out of the room, despite his protests.

Albus' mum and dad stood and left the room also, which left Albus and Rose in an awkward and uncomfortable silence.

"Okay." Rose started, taking a deep breath.

"At the very beginning of the school year, on the first day of school, I overheard some boys talking in the corridor, on my way to the bathroom. I couldn't see any of them, and I didn't want to risk any of them seeing me, but they were talking about Malfoy. Saying all of this really awful stuff they were going to do to him. It was really bad, Al. They were talking about kidnapping him and tormenting him with the Cruciatus Curse. One of them said that they were going to make him pay for something his grandfather did to his uncle- he said they should take Malfoy up to the top of the astronomy tower, and drop him off of it. It was really horrible stuff, Al. And I kind of freaked out. So I thought that if I convinced you not to be friends with him, then you wouldn't get caught in any sort of crossfire. I know you, Al. I knew that if Malfoy became a close friend to you, you would fight for him until the bitter end, so I thought that maybe I could stop you from becoming good friends with him. But then, I went about it like a bloody idiot. Before you ask, I don't know why I went about it the way I did. It was really stupid of me. I just … I just wanted to make sure that you'd be safe. Of course, that didn't really pan out how I'd hoped it would, and you ended up hating me."

"I'm really sorry, Al." Rose finished sincerely, eyes glistening as she wrung her hands.

Albus stared at Rose in shock at her admission, but thought back on Dori's words, up at the owlery. _'It sounds like something else is going on with your cousin.'_

Albus suddenly remembered something else and understanding dawned on him as his cousin watched him with wet eyes.

"That's what you were going to say when you were telling me not to be friends with Scor. The second time around. You told me that I didn't understand. You were trying to say that Scorpius was going to be hurt. But by that point, I didn't want to listen to you."

"Yeah. That's what I was going to say. But I had already put my foot in my mouth."

The pair sat in silence for another moment.

"Truce?" Albus finally asked her, hesitantly.

Rose's eyes shot up to meet Albus'.

"Truce." She agreed, relief extremely evident in her voice.

Later on, that night, long after the Weasley-Grangers had left, a knock sounded at Albus' bedroom door. He knew it wouldn't be either of his parents- neither of them would try to talk to him until the morning. He didn't think that it'd be any of his siblings either- they were probably all asleep. That only left one option as to who it could be.

"Master Albus, Kreacher has brought you a hot drink." The croaky voice of his father's ancient house elf sounded through the door.

Sighing, Albus got up and opened his door.

Kreacher stood in the doorway. His violently shaky hands clasped tightly to a silver tray, on which sat a half empty mug of hot chocolate.

"Kreacher knows that Master Albus likes to have a hot drink when he is thinking. Kreacher will leave this with you." He croaked at Albus, holding the tray out to him.

"Thank you, Kreacher." Albus mumbled, accepting the offered tray, gratefully.

Kreacher eyed Albus interestedly, before ambling away, muttering under his breath about something that Albus couldn't quite catch.

Christmas day came and was spent at the Burrow with the entire Weasley clan. Albus and Rose were tentative with each other, but as the day progressed, they found themselves becoming more and more lighthearted.

By the end of the Christmas break, Rose and Albus' friendship had nearly returned to where it had been before the pair of them had started Hogwarts, and Albus couldn't have been gladder for it. He had missed his favourite cousin a lot more than he had realised.

Before he knew it, Albus was crammed into his father's car, on his way to King's Cross station, ready to head back to Hogwarts for the remainder of the term.

When they arrived at the station, Albus immediately began scanning the crowd, searching for his friends. Having spent every day since September with them, he'd found himself missing all three of them, a lot, over their two-week separation.

He was so busy searching the crowd, he was completely unprepared to be tackled from the side and enveloped into a bear hug.

Turning his head, Albus was faced with a grinning Dori.

"How was your Christmas, Al?" Dori asked Albus as he pulled back.

"It was great. A little bit awkward at first, but it got better." Albus said in a rush.

"How was Azkaban?" He asked Dori, laughing.

"Bloody _rubbish_ , mate. I tried to fake being ill, but dad still made me go." Dori said, pulling a face.

" _Dad_ can hear you." A gruff voice said, coming up behind Dori.

Grinning again, Dori turned to face his dad.

"Dad, this is Albus. Al, my dad." Dori said, making introductions.

Dori's dad reached out a hand as Dori spoke, for Albus to shake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Albus. My son speaks very highly of you, and the other two, who I've yet to meet." He said firmly, as Albus accepted his handshake.

"You too, Mr Nott." Albus replied.

That pleasure was clearly not felt by Albus' mother, who stiffened when she saw Albus shaking Mr Nott's hand. Her entire demeanour became very frosty, and her smile dropped entirely.

"Gin," Albus heard his dad mutter to her softly, "let me talk."

Mr Nott's demeanour had changed, too. He became very uncomfortable. His eyes lingered warily on Albus' parents, and he took a cautious step backwards- away from Albus. Albus also noticed that he pulled Dori slightly behind him.

"I'm Harry. This is my wife, Ginny. Our sons are good friends. I'd like it if they stayed that way." Albus' dad said after a tense moment, in a deceptively pleasant voice. Stepping forward, he held out a hand to Mr Nott, who hesitated for a moment before shaking the proffered hand.

"I'd like that too." He said cautiously. He still kept Dori slightly behind him.

"Guess this is a good time to introduce you to my parents. Dori, this is my mum and dad. Mum, dad, this is Dori." Albus said awkwardly, indicating his friend to his parents.

"Good to meet you, Mr and Mrs Potter." Dori said, throwing them both a forced easy smile from behind his dad.

"You too, Dori." Albus' dad said, with a nod to Dori. Albus' mum offered Dori her own smile, but Mr Nott's presence was still making her uncomfortable enough that she opted not to speak.

They'd been milling about in an awkward manner for a minute or so when Albus heard his and Dori's names being called.

"Al! Dori!" Scorpius' excited voice called out.

Both boys turned their heads immediately in the direction of the voice and saw their friend quickly approaching them. Accompanying him was a tall, severe looking man and a serene woman.

"Hi!" He said brightly when he finally stood before him.

Scorpius shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, trying to make his mind up about something. Dori appeared to make that decision for him, as he stepped around his dad and easily threw his arms aound Scorpius in a bear hug. When he stepped back, Albus grinned at Scorpius and stepped forward to do the same.

"How were your holidays?" Scorpius asked them both, looking between them. His parents stood behind him, glancing at each other in mild amusement as their son ignored them in favour of his friends.

Mr and Mrs Malfoy allowed them a moment to catch up and talk with each other before Mrs Malfoy stepped forward and introduced herself.

"You must be Albus and Theodore. I'm Scorpius' mother, Astoria, and this is his father, Draco. It's wonderful to meet you." She said kindly, as Mr Malfoy stood stiffly beside her, nodding his head at each of them.

"Boys." Mr Malfoy said, offering the pair of them a quick nod of his head. He then glanced up at Albus' parents and Mr Nott.

"Nott. Potter." Mr Malfoy said, nodding his head curtly at Mr Nott, and then Albus' dad, in acknowledgement.

"Malfoy." Mr Nott replied, offering a curt nod in response. Albus' dad said and did the same.

"Wow. You know, dad, mum reckons otherwise, but I _always knew_ that my advanced and extensive vocabulary _must_ be thanks to you." Dori told his dad after a moment, joking to ease the slight tension.

"Brat." Mr Nott responded dryly, staring fondly at Dori.

Albus, Dori and Scorpius, chatted for a couple of minutes, while their parents hung awkwardly about.

"We should go find Elly before we board the train." Dori finally suggested, eyeing their parents, who were looking increasingly uncomfortable.

Albus recognised Dori's words for what they were- a subtle out for all of their parents, who _quite clearly_ did not want to be in each others company.

Albus and Scorpius agreed, and after making hasty goodbyes to their families, the three boys gathered their trolleys and headed off to find Gisele.

They found her at the other end of the platform, her face being smothered in kisses by an older woman.

"I'm going to miss you so much. You'll write me weekly!" The woman, whom Albus was assuming was Gisele's mother, demanded of her.

"Yes, mum, I promise. I'll wr- Oh. Hi!" Gisele exclaimed happily, abruptly cutting herself off mid-sentence once she saw the three of them. Pulling out of her mother's arms, Gisele came running over and threw her arms around them all.

Gisele's mother followed her, and before Gisele could make any introductions, her mother was speaking.

"Elly, are these your friends?" She asked, delight lacing her tone.

"Yeah, mum. This is Al, Scor, and Dori. Guys, this is my mum." Gisele said, pointing to each of them as she said their names.

"Oh, it's so lovely you to meet you all. Elly talks about you all the time. Can I take a few pictures of the four of you?" Mrs Fawley suddenly asked, pulling a large camera from a small, thin purse, that rested at her hip.

"What? No. Mum, don't be weird- no one wants a picture." Gisele whined at her mother.

Albus felt amusement light his face and saw Scorpius and Dori adopt similar expressions. They glanced at each other, all silently laughing at the look on Gisele's face.

"Oh, hush. I did this to all of your siblings. I just want a few pictures of my baby with her friends, before you go off to school and I don't see you for five months. What's wrong with that?"

Gisele eyed her mother for a moment, before sighing.

"Fine. Just one!" She told her mother with a hint of exasperation.

"Hush." Mrs Fawley scolded Gisele.

Turning back to Albus, Scorpius and Dori, Gisele mouthed a quick _'sorry'_ to all of them as they huddled together and looked, smiling, at Mrs Fawley's camera.

Mrs Fawley's camera had just flashed for the second time, when the horn of the train sounded, signalling that the Hogwarts Express would be leaving in five minutes.

"Mum, we need to board the train now." Gisele told her mother, who hadn't shown any sign of putting her camera away.

"Oh, alright." Mrs Fawley said, placing the camera back inside what should have been a too-small bag. Obviously, it was enchanted.

"Boys, it was lovely to meet you all." She said, smiling brightly at them all. Giving Gisele one last kiss, she stepped back and allowed them to board the train.

It didn't take them over long to find an empty compartment. The four of them filed in, and stored their trunks in the overhead storage, with Albus and Scorpius both allowing their pets out of their cages.

Scorpius' cat, Nyx, immediately settled herself into Scorpius' lap and dozed off, while Siriol, Albus' ferret, clambered in and around the overhead.

The'd been on the train for half an hour when the trolley lady opened their compartment door.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" She asked them pleasantly.

"Two chocolate frogs, one cauldron cake and one pumpkin pasty, please." Albus said, pulling a sickle from his pocket to pay.

He kept the cauldron cake for himself and gave the pumpkin pasty to Dori. The chocolate frogs were for Scorpius and Gisele. The pair of them were mad for chocolate.

He received a chorus of thank you's, and the four of them spent the rest of the train ride talking about their Christmases with each other.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade station in no time at all, and they were taken to the castle in the same carriages that had brought them to the train before the break began.

That night, the four of them stayed up rather late, finishing up the last of the homework assignments that they had been given for over the Christmas break. Scorpius, Albus and Gisele had finished most of their work, but Dori had a fair portion of his own left to complete.

By the time all four of them had completed everything, they were all exhausted and more than ready for bed.

They'd been back at Hogwarts for three weeks, and Scorpius was getting hassled worse than before the Christmas break. Things escalated to the point, Albus was hesitant for Scorpius to be alone. He didn't trust that his friend wouldn't be attacked, verbally or physically, if he was alone outside of the common room. But Scorpius kept refusing to involve anyone who might be able to help. He wouldn't even tell the Slytherin prefects. It was frustrating.

Things took a turn, however, during one particular incident, where a fifth-year boy- feeling brave surrounded by his friends, and the lack of a teachers presence- spat at Scorpius' feet. It was the first time anything like that had happened, and Dori flew off the handle. Before anyone knew what was happening, he had lunged at the other boy. It had all become a bit of a blur from there, with many people trying to pry the two apart.

Once the brawl had been split up, it became quickly apparent that although Dori had not fared overly well, the other boy was worse by far. His nose was broken and bleeding profusely, and if Albus was not mistaken, the hazy look in his eyes was indicative of a concussion. The boy was taken to the hospital wing, and rumours immediately began circulating around the school. By the next afternoon, half of the student body believed that Dori had tried and nearly succeeded in killing an older student because he was psychotic and unstable.

Albus, Dori, Scorpius and Gisele, were walking from Defense Against the Dark Arts to Potions two days later, talking quietly amongst themselves when Professor Goldberg approached the four of them in the hallway, accompanied by the boy who'd spat in Scorpius' face. He was fully healed and looking very smug.

"Mr Nott, a word?" Goldberg barked to him as he walked closer.

Albus didn't have a particularly good feeling about this. He'd thought that the other boy wouldn't involve any teachers because he'd started the fight by spitting in Scorpius' face. Clearly, Albus thought wrong.

"Misters Malfoy and Potter, Ms Fawley, you may go ahead." Goldberg said curtly as he neared them, dismissing them.

Albus shared a glance with Scorpius and Gisele, and the three of them slowly began heading away. They'd made it out of sight around the corner, but were still well within earshot when Goldberg began speaking.

"Mr Horton has informed me that you were responsible for his trip to the hospital wing two days ago. He told me you viciously attacked him because of his muggle heritage. Is this true?" They heard him ask Dori in a hard tone.

"My mum's a Muggleborn." Dori started in a dry voice. "If I were going to attack this prat, his muggle heritage would not be the reason."

There was a moment's silence. Albus, Scorpius and Gisele all shared an amused look. 'Horton' had clearly spun his own version of events to Professor Goldberg, and he had just been caught out for it.

"I'll take that to mean you did not attack Mr Horton, then?" Professor Goldberg asked.

"No. I didn't." Dori said with an edge to his voice, lying to Goldberg,

Another round of silence followed. And then:

"Mr Horton, you insisted to me that this young man attacked you unprovoked, and consequently, sent you to the hospital wing because of your muggle heritage. However, that seems highly unlikely, given that he himself, has a Muggleborn mother." Goldberg said in a tight voice.

More silence.

"Well … he did attack me!" Horton finally said, weakly.

"No, I didn't. You're lying." Dori said to Horton in a scathing voice, lying once more to Goldberg.

There was a loud sigh, and then:

"Mr Horton, forty points will be taken from Hufflepuff house, for not only wasting my time but for blatantly lying to a teacher. Mr Nott, that'll be ten points from Slytherin for your attitude, and your foul language- don't think I didn't notice the name you called Mr Horton. I expect you both to head to your next classes immediately. You are dismissed." Goldberg snapped out before heavy footsteps headed away from where Albus, Scorpius and Gisele were standing.

Albus, Scorpius and Gisele emerged from around the corner and headed for Dori, who was having some sort of stand off with Horton.

"What! But … but … but … you're a liar!" Horton spluttered furiously, spinning to pin Dori with a glare.

"So are you. The difference is, I'm a good liar." Dori replied, voice mocking.

Dori was generally quite laid back. He had a quick humour and was always quick to laugh. Right now, the look he bore on his face did not reflect the easy personality that Albus knew he had. His eyes were hard, and his mouth was set in a harsh smirk. If Albus was being honest, he was a little worried that Dori might come to more blows with Horton.

"Mate. Leave it." Albus said cautiously, staring at the side of Dori's head.

Dori turned and stalked towards the three of them. When he reached them, they carried on towards Potions in silence.

The rest of that week passed by exceptionally slowly. Their classes dragged on, and as Dori's mood had slowly increased, Scorpius' had decreased.

Come Saturday afternoon, the four of them were sitting upstairs in the common room, working on their Potions assignment in silence, when Scorpius abruptly stood and said that he needed to go to the bathroom. He didn't wait for a response before turning and descending the stairs to make his way out of the common room.

"Should one of you go with him?" Gisele asked with a frown, as she watched him walk off.

"I think he wants to be alone." Albus told her softly. "Besides, the bathroom is just around the corner from the common room. He should be fine to go by himself."

He shared a glance with Dori, who nodded his head in agreement with Albus, and they went back to their work. Gisele was still frowning, but she didn't push. She did, however, periodically check her wristwatch.

"It's been twenty minutes. You think he's alright? He should be back by now." She finally said, looking up with a frown, as she tapped her quill to her parchment, causing little ink splotches.

"Go check on him, then." Dori said, looking up from his own work.

"I can't go into the boy's bathroom." She said, staring expectantly at him.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." Dori told her, standing up and heading towards the exit.

When he returned five minutes later, he was holding a wand and looking very worried. Scorpius was not in his company.

"His wand was in the bathroom, on the floor, but I couldn't see Scor anywhere." Dori said worriedly when he reached the table, placing the wand Albus now realised was Scorpius', in the centre of it.

Albus frowned. It was extremely unlike Scorpius to go anywhere without his wand or leave it lying about. For Dori to have found it on the floor, in the bathroom- of all places-, something was very wrong.

"What? You didn't see him anywhere?" Gisele asked, her brow furrowing.

Dori shook his head no. His eyes were clouded with worry.

"It's okay. I'm sure he's fine." Albus began calmly. "We'll split up, and look around the school for him. I'm sure he can't be too far."

With that, the three of them packed up their stuff and left the common room. They seperated at the entrance and headed off to look for Scorpius.

Three-quarters of an hour later, Albus was making his way back to the common room. He had been unsuccessful in his search for Scorpius. Albus tried to ignore the slow sinking of his chest into his stomach, and instead, focused on the slight hope he had, that either Gisele or Dori had managed to find him.

Approaching the entrance of the common room, however, had Albus' chest falling entirely through his stomach and down into his feet. Gisele and Dori were standing alone in front of the door, and Scorpius was nowhere in sight. The pair of them were holding themselves very stiffly, and Albus could feel the tension and worry they felt.

"Neither of you found him." He said quietly as joined them.

They looked at each other, then back at him, both shaking their heads 'no'.

"Al, I'm really worried. It's five o'clock. It'll be dark soon." Gisele said, biting her lip.

"I know." Albus replied.

"I think that we should try Hagrid's hut." He suggested after a moment.

Albus honestly didn't think that Scorpius would be with Hagrid in his hut, but it was worth a shot to at least look. They hadn't been able to find him anywhere else.

With that, the three of them set off once more. This time, together.

They'd passed multiple paintings and armoured statues and were nearing the entrance of the castle when they heard two hushed voices speaking. One voice was frantic, the other was arrogant. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the two were having some sort of argument.

Albus was the first to register snippets of argument the older pair were having, and when he did, he quickly pulled Dori and Gisele behind a rusted suit of armour, hoping they wouldn't be seen.

"Shh," he said to Dori and Gisele. "Listen."

"... went too far … first year …"

"No … deserved it … not our fault … not like … broke …"

"... just … little boy …"

"... be fine … Death-eater kid … cares …"

"It's not what we agreed!" The frantic one of the pair said, voice growing loud enough for them to hear every word.

Albus frowned. The frantic boy's voice buzzed around in his head. It seemed vaguely familiar.

"We were supposed to scare him a little- not strand him in the bloody Forbidden Forest. Simon, this is serious. He could die in there. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go to Azkaban because of what was supposed to be a stupid prank."

Albus stilled, recognising the vaguely familiar voice now. Gisele and Dori clearly recognised the same voice that he had. One of the two boys speaking was Horton.

Turning, Gisele focused all of her attention on Albus and Dori.

"You- you don't think they're talking about Scor, do you?" She asked hesitantly, quietly. Her eyes pleaded with either of them to say 'no'.

Albus nodded his head yes.

"I think they are." He said.


End file.
